


Merry Christmas, Ian

by grumblesandmumbles



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Domestic Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Gallavich Week, M/M, Same-Sex Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2839499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumblesandmumbles/pseuds/grumblesandmumbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey and Ian are about to have a Christmas they'll remember forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas, Ian

**Author's Note:**

> Not fully sure of the legalities of the divorce and marriage processes in Illinois, but ask me if I care. Pretty sure most of my usage of the info was general enough that the specifics don't really matter.
> 
> There's a bit of hidden personal meaning to this fic for me, and I felt the need to write it.

Mickey and Ian weren't planning to make a big deal out of Christmas. As far as they were concerned, it was just another day. They had went shopping for their presents together a few weeks before, as they had decided to buy wedding bands. They weren't technically married, not yet, but it was only a matter of time now. Mickey and Svetlana had officially filed for divorce, after they had waited it out long enough for her to gain her citizenship. Mickey and Ian had even, albeit a bit preemptively, filed for a marriage license. But the closer the divorce got to being over and done with, the more Svetlana started finding things to hem and haw over. First it had been the custody arrangement, then it had been the child support. Then Svetlana attempted to be spiteful and threaten to request spousal support after her and Mickey got into a bad argument. Ian had to smooth a lot of ruffled feathers on both sides to get them past that one. Finally, when everything had been hashed out, it was just waiting to appear before the judge to have the divorce granted. They didn't care how long it took anymore. They wanted to wear their wedding bands and show the world that this commitment was as real to them as any could ever be. Ian insisted on wrapping the rings to exchange on Christmas, and although Mickey rolled his eyes at his lover's sentimentality, he didn't argue. 

It was a few days before Christmas. They woke up together and were enjoying a quiet morning in bed. Quiet mornings were becoming more frequent in the Milkovich house. Svetlana had moved out with a few of her friends, and Yevgeny lived with her most of the time. Mickey's brothers were all out of the house, a few in prison and the rest living with whatever girlfriends they were dating at the moment. The only ones left were Mickey, Ian and Mandy. Now that she had split with Kenyatta, she spent most of her time working, picking up extra shifts at the Waffle Cottage to help the boys cover the gaps they couldn't in order to keep the household afloat. She didn't seem to mind the decline in her social life though, as she had sworn off dating after her last relationship fiasco. She was at work when Mickey received the phone call that would change everything.

Mickey and Ian were half nodding off again, succumbing to the laziness of the day, when Mickey's phone started blaring. He moaned and rolled over, perfectly content to ignore it. But of course, ignoring it wouldn't shut the damn thing up. So he finally fumbled for it and looked at the caller ID. It was Shawn, who Fiona was currently seeing and who also happened to be a lawyer, Mickey's lawyer. She had wooed him into representing Mickey in his divorce for free. Shawn usually didn't call unless Svetlana was putting up a stink, so Mickey dreaded picking up this call. With a groan, he finally relented and hit the answer button. "Yea?" He listened intently, not speaking. Ian had sat up at this point, waiting for Mickey to get off the phone to find out what was happening. He had seen the caller ID too, and felt a pit of dread settle in his stomach. They were so close. He prayed that Svetlana hadn't found something else to fight about. Ian sees that Mickey is biting at the inside of his lip while he listens. Mickey gets up and finds a scrap of paper and a pen, biting the cap between his teeth and pulling the pen to uncap it, spitting the cap across the room. "Yea, go ahead Shawn, I'm ready." He scribbles some information down and says, "Yea, we'll be there." He hangs up the phone and looks at Ian. 

Mickey just stares at him for a moment, taking him in. The way his hair is ruffled from the pillows, how his green eyes search Mickey's face for signs of whether the phone call was good or bad, how the light shining in the window sets his hair ablaze. Mickey drops his phone back on the night table and climbs on the bed, laying down and pulling Ian down with him. "Good news, everything is ready. The judge is trying to clear up his docket before the holidays, so he's bumped a lot of his cases up to get them out of the way. We go before the judge tomorrow at 9am. Get through the formalities, sign some paperwork and it's official!" Ian positively beams at the news. He grabs Mickey and kisses him hard. "About fuckin' time!" The boys laugh and Ian wraps Mickey in a hug. Suddenly Mickey pulls away from Ian and says, "Let's do it!" Ian looks at him, confused. "Do what, Mick?" Mickey takes him by the shoulders, staring intently into Ian's eyes, and replies, "Let's get married. Tomorrow. After the divorce hearing." Ian keeps the eye contact, waiting to see if Mickey is screwing with him. But there is nothing on his face other than sincerity. "Really? Are you sure? You're not fucking around?" Mickey nods. "Ian, this is how it should have always been. I should have been marrying you or no one at all. Because you're it for me. Shit, I've known you were it for me forever. I don't want to wait anymore. I don't want tomorrow to just be the day I got divorced. I want it to really be the day I started living my life for me. And for you." Ian nods, feeling a lump in his throat. His emotions are swirling, but in a good way. He grabs Mickey's face and lays kisses all over him. They kiss and laugh until they realize if they're going to do this, they have a few things they need to take care of first. They finally get up, get dressed and leave the house, parting ways to go about their separate errands.

Mickey goes to the Waffle Cottage to see Mandy. He grabs a booth in her section and she comes over with a menu. "You better order more than just a coffee today, assface. Boss got pissed last time you sat here taking business away from paying customers." Mickey scoffs and replies, "Please, this place hasn't turned a profit in years." She shrugs and says, "Well, tell him that. In the meantime, I don't want to hear shit out of him, so order something." He orders some pancakes and before she goes to put the order in, he grabs her wrist. "Mandy, do you gotta minute? Need to talk to you." She looks up at the clock and says, "I'm due for a break. Let me put this in and I'll come back." She heads to the order window, puts the slip on the counter and returns, flopping into the seat across from him. "I've got ten minutes, what's up?" He asks, "Are you working tomorrow?" She nods. "Yea, morning shift, why?" Mickey smirks and replies, "Not anymore. You're calling in sick. Tell him you caught e-coli. Not unlikely in this dump." She reaches across the table to punch his arm and hisses, "This better be good, Mick. We need the money. Why're you asking me to skip out on my shift?" He fills her in on his conversation with Shawn, about the divorce being finalized, and how he'd like her to be there. As he's wrapping that up he casually adds, "Besides, if I'm going to marry Ian afterwards, we kind of need someone to witness it." She pauses, convinced that she's heard him wrong. Slowly the realization of what he said sinks in. "Wait, you and Ian are gonna get HITCHED? Holy shit, Mick!" She scrambles to get out of her seat and jumps next to him, yelling and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. "Of course I'm coming! My brother and my best friend getting married?! It's about fucking time!" His pancakes arrive and they spend the rest of her break discussing the plans for the following day.

While Mickey is surprising Mandy, Ian goes to give the news to his own family. There was really no question that Mandy would be supportive of their plan, but Ian suspects that his family may be a different story. He's cautiously optimistic, but not a fool. He knows that Mickey gets along with his family much better than before, but he can't imagine they will be thrilled that he's getting married so young. He'll be floored if Lip doesn't have some choice words about the situation. But Ian knows what he wants, and nothing is going to change his mind on this. He gets to the Gallagher house and lets himself in. It seems the only person home is Fiona. Even Liam isn't there, which is surprising, since he's usually wherever Fiona happens to be. Ian finds her in the kitchen, going over some bills. She greets him, happy for the surprise visit. They make some small talk and then he figures it's best to get down to business. "Hey Fi, I came over to talk to you about something." She motions for him to follow her into the living room and they sit down together on the couch. "Mickey's divorce from Svetlana is being finalized tomorrow." Fiona nods and replies, "Well that's good, I know that's been hanging over him for awhile now." Ian says, "Yea it has. And now that it's finally going to be out of the way, Mickey and I have decided to get married. And I'd like you to be there as my witness." She's not mad at the idea, but she's apprehensive, and it shows. "Ian, are you sure about this? You guys are so young, what's the rush?" Ian shakes his head and says, "It's not about rushing anything. It's just what we want. And now that there's nothing preventing it, why wait? Honestly, if we hadn't had to wait for this divorce shit to end, it would have probably happened by now." She nods slowly, turning the idea over in her head. "Don't you guys need a marriage license?" He replies, "We already have one. Got it a few weeks ago in preparation, just to be ready. Didn't realize it would happen before the new year, but we wanted to be set whenever it did happen." 

He sees that she's thinking about everything, probably including trying to come up with ideas to convince him to wait. But nothing she could say would convince him to do that. He takes her hand and says, "Look Fi, I know you think I'm young, and you guys might not get it, but I've been in love with him for years now. We've seen each other through the worst shit in our lives and we're still standing. I can't imagine being with anyone else. We are getting married tomorrow, and I want you guys there, but only if you support us. I don't want anyone coming and making remarks, or trying to get me to change my mind. If you can't do that, you don't have to come. I won't hate anyone for it. But I'd hope that by now, you'd realize that he's good for me, and he loves me. And I love him." Fiona knows that arguing with Ian is fruitless. He's the most stubborn Gallagher out of all of them, and that's saying something. "I'm not letting my brother get married without me being there. You know we'll be there to support you guys." Ian leans across the couch and hugs her. He knows she may think this is a half-cocked idea, but it feels good to know she's on his side. "Listen Fi, you need to make sure Lip isn't going to be... Lip. No shit out of him. I'm not kidding, I won't put up with it." She nods and replies, "Don't worry, I'll deal with him. I'm sure you guys have stuff to get ready for tomorrow. I'll tell Lip and the kids at dinner. We'll all be there tomorrow!" He leaves to finish taking care of the other items on his to do list, and she watches him go. He may be an adult now, tall and strong, but when she looks at Ian, she still sees a knobby-kneed boy with a spattering of freckles, all made up of gangly limbs and sweet smiles. Now he's getting married. She just shakes her head in disbelief.

After Mickey had left Mandy, he went to The Alibi. There was one more person he wanted to tell about he and Ian's plan. He walks in and scans the room, spotting who he's looking for and approaching. "Hey Svetlana, can we talk?" She nods and they take a booth in the back corner, away from the gaggle of drunks crowding up the bar. She stares at him, watching and waiting for him to speak. "Listen, I know we're getting this divorce over and done with tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know that while this wasn't a situation either of us had ever wanted to be in, I think in the end it worked out well enough. And I know that we had it rough for awhile, I think we made it work as best we could. I really just wanted to make sure you understand that I don't blame you for anything. I know your hands were tied, and that you did a lot of what you did for the same reasons that I did. To survive. I had a lot of anger towards you, but I know it wasn't really you I was mad at, and none of this was either of our faults. I'm glad we were able to make the best of it, and at least you got your citizenship and I still have Ian, so I'd say it's working out so far. I also wanted to tell you that Ian and I are going to get married tomorrow after the divorce proceedings are over." She nods at this. "I'm not surprised. I want to come." He looks at her, shocked. "Really?" She just shrugs and says, "Yes. I like orange boy. He's good for you. He show you how to care. He saw what no one else could see, and he was willing to wait for you to show him. That's love. I see how you are with him too, and how he makes you better. He even makes you better father to Yevgeny. If he can do that, it works for me too. What's not to like?" Mickey doesn't know what to say, so he just shrugs and replies, "Well, you're welcome to come if you want." He can see that as far as she's concerned, it's settled. She motions to Kev and asks for two vodka shots and he returns with them. She looks at Mickey and says, "We should toast. To you and orange boy. May your marriage be better than ours ever was. Na zdorovye!" They both toss back their shots and laugh. Mickey squeezes her hand and says, "Really, I'm glad that we've come out of all this with some peace with each other." She smiles, a real smile that she doesn't share often, and quietly says, "Me too."

It's well past dinner by the time Ian and Mickey reunite back at home. When Ian returns, Mickey is already there watching TV. Ian enters holding a few bags. "What's all that?" Ian hands one of the bags to Mickey and says, "Well, this stuff is for you. Something you can wear tomorrow with that black button down shirt you have already." Mickey reaches into the bag and pulls out gray dress pants and a tie with blue and gray diagonal stripes. There's even a pair of black dress shoes. He's not one for dressing nice, and is grateful that Ian thought to get something for him. "Go 'head, Mick, try the pants on with the shirt, make sure they fit." Mickey goes into the bedroom, locates the shirt and gets dressed, except for the tie. He never learned how to tie a tie. When he reenters the living room, Ian eyes him hungrily. "Jesus Mick, we need to dress you up more often." Mickey blushes at the attention and waves the tie at Ian as he says, "Shut up, Red. Show me how to tie this damn thing." Ian takes it from Mickey's hand and puts it around his own neck. He gets the tie just about ready and then removes it, slipping it over Mickey's head. He says, "Now all you have to do is tighten it and it's good to go." Mickey tries it and it looks good. Ian grabs him by the tie and pulls him in, kissing him hard and biting at his lower lip just a little. "Mmm, I've always wanted to do that." Mickey notices the other bag Ian had brought in and said, "What's in there?" Ian grabs the bag and pulls out a green button down shirt and black pants, tie and shoes. "Had to get myself something to wear tomorrow too." Mickey smirks at him and says, "Well, let's see it then." Ian strips down to his underwear and changes into his new outfit. Mickey takes note right away of how the green shirt makes Ian's eyes pop. They're both looking each other up and down, eye fucking each other, wanting each other. In the same instant, they move towards each other. Lips crashing together, hands roaming over each others bodies, hot and heavy. Before they can go too far, Ian pulls back breathlessly. "Wait, wait. I don't want to mess up our stuff for tomorrow, get undressed so I can hang this shit up." Mickey grumbles and strips at lightning speed, throwing the stuff at Ian and saying, "Hurry up, I'll be in the bedroom." Ian throws everything on hangers in a hurry and rushes to continue what they both started.

December 23rd. The day has finally arrived. Ian and Mickey wake up early to get ready to go to court. They shower together to save time, and it's all they can do to avoid turning the shower into something else. But they know this is going to be a busy day, and they can't be late for court. They get dressed and make sure they have the rings and the license before they head to the el to go downtown to the courthouse. When they arrive, Svetlana is there with Yevgeny and Nika. Mandy is there too, as is Fiona, Debbie, Carl and Liam. Ian's heart sinks when he doesn't see Lip. He knows that he told Fiona he wouldn't hold it against them if they weren't there, but if he were honest, he'd know that wasn't really true. Fiona sees the expression on his face and says, "It's not what you think. He has an 8am class and they have a quiz today. He said he'd head over as soon as he was done with that." Ian sighs with relief. Shawn arrives and greets Mickey before turning his attention to Fiona. They all make small talk for a few minutes before Shawn looks at his watch and says "We should get in there." Svetlana passes Yevgeny to Mandy to watch and they proceed into the courtroom. Minutes later, the judge enters and after all of the formalities, the divorce is granted. Svetlana and Mickey sign the papers and it's over. Just like that. Mickey can't help but think how after everything that has happened, all it takes is some scribbles on the papers and it's done. He receives his official copy of the divorce decree and they all leave the courtroom. When they enter the hallway, Lip is sitting on a bench waiting for them. He comes over and hugs Ian tightly, whispering in his ear. "Hey bro. Regardless of anything, you know I wouldn't have missed this, right Ian?" Ian nods into his shoulder before they let each other go. He looks at Mickey and hesitates for just a second before he offers his hand to shake. Mickey takes it and Lip can't help but make a quick joke. "Barely rid of one ball and chain before you sign up for another, huh Milkovich? Didn't even know you'd be the marrying kind, but it must be nice if you're willing to do it twice." Mickey gives him the finger but smirks, and it's clear there's no malice behind it. They will never be best friends, but after Ian's early struggles with his bipolar disorder, Mickey's dedication to their brother helped warm the Gallaghers to him more than they had ever expected.

They all make their way to another building in the court complex where the marriage ceremonies are performed. Mickey and Ian sign in and collect their number and now they just have to wait until it's their turn. Everyone chats and waits and finally it is their turn. They all proceed into the ceremony room and the justice greets them. The service is brief. The girls all cry, except for Svetlana, stoic as ever. The guys look on and wait patiently until it's done. But Mickey and Ian don't notice any of it. They've only got eyes for each other. They exchange their vows and their rings, they seal the marriage with a kiss, and they don't even realize it's over until everyone is hugging and surrounding them. They sign the paperwork, as do Mandy and Fiona as the official witnesses, and they leave. The group has all decided that they need to celebrate and Lip recommends a nice lunch spot a few blocks away. As they're walking over, Mickey and Ian trail behind them, walking hand in hand. They arrive at the restaurant and everyone heads inside, but Mickey pulls Ian back for a second. "Hi, HUSBAND." Ian snickers and replies, "Well hello yourself, HUSBAND." Mickey squeezes Ian's hand and pulls him closer, kissing him gently. "Merry Christmas, Ian."

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave kudos/comments if you please :) And have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
> 
> [Find me on Tumblr.](http://grumblesandmumbles.tumblr.com)


End file.
